When I first started taping the Shades of Soul, I made a conscious decision not to do them as podcasts, partially because I wanted to create a separate identity for them away from my pre-existing podcast series, The Sidebar. However, I’ve been taping SOS shows for over a year now and not coincidentally, The Sidebar has been silent for over a year now. It’s time I finally unite the siblings.

Morgan Neville is the filmmaker behind the new documentary about back-up singing: 20 Feet From Stardom. I met Morgan at a Highland Park event for Songs in the Key of Los Angeles and he mentioned his film, which sounded awesome, and then having caught it, I can confirm: it is totally awesome. Anyone who has a love for the voices that have defined pop music of the last 30 years should go see this. He dropped by the home studio the other week to talk about the film, the […]

I mentioned back in August that I was the moderator for a fantastic conversation with author RJ Smith and drummer James Gadson about the life, times and influence of James Brown. This was hosted at the Crawford Family Forum and while there’s no video from the event, there is audio and I’ve uploaded it as a podcast for you all.

Detroit’s Karriem Riggins travels to L.A. frequently for family and business but he’s got added purpose of late with the release of his new, solo debut Alone Together. As I told him during our conversation, Riggins has been so prolific since his career began some 15 years ago that it’s hard to believe this is his first, full-fledged album but all that means is that he’s has years of creativity stored up and ready to unleash itself via this LP.